---
title: 'Tags'
sidebar:
  order: 6
  title: Tags
---

Tags allow you to control which stories are included in your Storybook, enabling many different uses of the same total set of stories. For example, you can use tags to include/exclude tests from the [test runner](../writing-tests/integrations/test-runner.mdx#run-tests-for-a-subset-of-stories). For more complex use cases, see the [recipes](#recipes) section, below.

## Built-in tags

The following tags are available in every Storybook project:

| Tag        | Applied by default? | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ---------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `dev`      | Yes                 | Stories tagged with `dev` are rendered in Storybook's sidebar.                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| `test`     | Yes                 | Stories tagged with `test` are included in [test runner](../writing-tests/integrations/test-runner.mdx#run-tests-for-a-subset-of-stories) or [Vitest addon](../writing-tests/integrations/vitest-addon/index.mdx#including-excluding-or-skipping-tests) runs. |
| `autodocs` | No                  | Stories tagged with `autodocs` are included in the [docs page](../writing-docs/autodocs.mdx). If a CSF file does not contain at least one story tagged with `autodocs`, that component will not generate a docs page.                                   |
| `play-fn`  | No                  | Applied automatically to stories with a [play function](./play-function.mdx) defined.                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `test-fn`  | No                  | Applied automatically to tests defined using the [experimental `.test` method on CSF Factories](https://github.com/storybookjs/storybook/discussions/30119).                                                                                            |

The `dev` and `test` tags are automatically, implicitly applied to every story in your Storybook project.

## Custom tags

You're not limited to the built-in tags. Custom tags enable a flexible layer of categorization on top of Storybook's sidebar hierarchy. Sample uses might include:

- Status, such as `experimental`, `new`, `stable`, or `deprecated`
- User persona, such as `admin`, `user`, or `developer`
- Component/code ownership

There are two ways to create a custom tag:

1. Apply it to a story, component (meta), or project (preview.js|ts) as described below.
2. Define it in your Storybook configuration file (`.storybook/main.js|ts`) to provide more configuration options, like default [filter selection](#filtering-the-sidebar-by-tags).

For example, to define an "experimental" tag that is excluded by default in the sidebar, you can add this to your Storybook config:

<CodeSnippets path="main-config-tags.md" />

If `defaultFilterSelection` is set to `include`, stories with this tag are selected as included in the filter menu. If set to `exclude`, stories with this tag are selected as excluded, and must be explicitly included by selecting the tag in the sidebar filter menu. If not set, the tag has no default selection.

You can also use the [`tags` configuration](../api/main-config/main-config-tags.mdx) to alter the configuration of built-in tags.

## Applying tags

A tag can be any static (i.e. not created dynamically) string, either the [built-in tags](#built-in-tags) or [custom tags](#custom-tags) of your own design. To apply tags to a story, assign an array of strings to the `tags` property. Tags may be applied at the project, component (meta), or story levels.

For example, to apply the `autodocs` tag to all stories in your project, you can use `.storybook/preview.js|ts`:

{/* prettier-ignore-start */}

<CodeSnippets path="tags-in-preview.md" />

{/* prettier-ignore-end */}

Within a component stories file, you apply tags like so:

{/* prettier-ignore-start */}

<CodeSnippets path="tags-in-meta-and-story.md" />

{/* prettier-ignore-end */}

## Removing tags

To remove a tag from a story, prefix it with `!`. For example:

{/* prettier-ignore-start */}

<CodeSnippets path="tags-remove-in-story.md" />

{/* prettier-ignore-end */}

Tags can be removed for all stories in your project (in `.storybook/preview.js|ts`), all stories for a component (in the CSF file meta), or a single story (as above).

## Filtering the sidebar by tags

Both built-in and custom tags are available as filters in Storybook's sidebar. Selecting a tag in the filter causes the sidebar to only show stories with that tag. Selecting multiple tags shows stories that contain any of those tags.

Pressing the Exclude button for a tag in the filter menu excludes stories with that tag from the sidebar. You can exclude multiple tags, and stories with any of those tags will be excluded. You can also mix inclusion and exclusion.

When no tags are selected, all stories are shown.

In this example, the `experimental` tag has been excluded and the Documentation tag (`autodocs`) has been included, so only stories tagged with `autodocs` but not `experimental` are shown.

![Filtering by tags](../_assets/writing-stories/tag-filter.png)

Filtering by tags is a powerful way to focus on a subset of stories, especially in large Storybook projects. When searching, the filter is applied first, so search results are limited to the currently filtered tags.

## Recipes

### Docs-only stories

It can sometimes be helpful to provide example stories for documentation purposes, but you want to keep the sidebar navigation more focused on stories useful for development. By enabling the `autodocs` tag and removing the `dev` tag, a story becomes docs-only: appearing only in the [docs page](../writing-docs/autodocs.mdx) and not in Storybook's sidebar.

{/* prettier-ignore-start */}

<CodeSnippets path="tags-docs-only-in-meta.md" />

{/* prettier-ignore-end */}

### Combo stories, still tested individually

For a component with many variants, like a Button, a grid of those variants all together can be a helpful way to visualize it. But you may wish to test the variants individually. You can accomplish this with tags like so:

{/* prettier-ignore-start */}

<CodeSnippets path="tags-combo-example.md" />

{/* prettier-ignore-end */}

### Test cases that don't clutter the sidebar

(⚠️ **Experimental**: While this API is available for all tags, the built-in `_test` tag is experimental)

If you're using the [experimental `.test` method on CSF Factories](https://github.com/storybookjs/storybook/discussions/30119), you can alter the default behavior of the `_test` tag to exclude tests from the sidebar by default. This reduces clutter in the sidebar while still allowing you to run tests for all stories, or adjust the filter to show tests when needed.

<CodeSnippets path="main-config-tags-test-fn-exclude.md" />
